Knowing when to be somewhere at the right time is always helpful; but sometimes you find an unexpected surprise waiting. When I went to play with the sidelight streaming across the base of Sugarland Mountain and upper Sugarland Valley, I was completely surprised by the sheer numbers of blooming Carolina Silverbell (Halesia carolina). Silverbell is common in the Smokies, but the bloom this year has been truly amazing. Last week the greening-up had just reached the base of Sugarland Mountain and the silverbell there were fully present. In this expression I decided to use a horizontal line of the tops of some silverbell and greening hardwoods in the bottom third of the image and then let the eye follow the sweep of color, shape, and line across the valley and into the lower spur ridges of the mountain with their “V” shaped coves in between. A focal length of 36mm, almost wide-angle, gave me the angle of view I wanted. An aperture of f/20 gave me depth-of-field, and a shutter speed of 1/8th second at ISO 100 gave me a very-slightly-lighter-than-medium exposure.
A dumb question Don
When finding the composition you like, do you see it in your mind, or play with it with the viewfinder? Or both?
Once again, I appreciate your willingness to teach as you display your images. The geometry of this image caught me instantly — the inverted V of the ridge against the V’s of the valleys, and the lower horizontal. It’s good to know that someone who plans his images so well can still be taken by surprise.
Don, you captured Spring beautifully! Thanks for sharing both the image and the thinking behind it.
Hello Fred, Don, and Pat. It’s good to hear from all of you. Thanks for joining me for this conversation. Fred, it’s not a dumb question at all; in fact it’s an excellent one. The answer is “both.” I first realize that I am having an emotional response to something in my visual field; then I begin to explore that response visually without a camera; and finally I use the viewfinder to work out the fine details of what my visual experience has uncovered. That’s a fairly complete answer, but I could flesh it out over 2-3 more pages of thoughts. I hope you and Louise are well. Thank you, Don, I really value your kind comments, and I very much appreciate that someone cares about my thoughtfulness. I identify with your use of “geometry” in describing your response, for I believe that geometry is so much a part of the compositional process. Pat, it’s always great to have you join me, and I am always glad to have your thoughtful words. So many things go into composition, but in my mind it all begins with the gestalt, the wholeness of the thing itself. Thanks, again, everyone. Have a beautiful week!